Row erupting over election register crux
7 May 1997
By TOM KELLY
A political row has blown up over an anomaly in the supplementary register being compiled for the forthcoming General Election. The Fianna Fail organisation in the county is annoyed that voters who had become disabled since the opening of the supplementary register were not entitled to a postal vote.
Those affected include newly qualified voters unable to get to the polls because of injuries sustained in road or work accidents.
Now local party candidate, Beverley Cooper Flynn, has called for the situation to be examined at national level. She explained the Register of Electors for the pending election closed on February 14th last.
But those included on the supplementary register compiled by Mayo County Council had to show up at a polling centre to be sure of casting the franchise.
"Unfortunately any first time voter who became involved in serious accidents since the middle of February and is confined to a hospital bed will not be permitted a vote. "The problem is they won't be allocated a postal vote. A number of families have complained to me about the situation, and it is something that needs to be examined at national level."
The Fianna Fail councillor also revealed that a study of the register revealed that an average of 30% of Mayo students eligible to vote were omitted from the register.
The figures included 40 students attending the Castlebar RTC campus.
